New data shows that the city of Los Angeles owns nearly 9,000 parcels throughout the region—and that it could be doing a lot more with them.

For the first time in a decade, the city of Los Angeles has a comprehensive catalog of its own real-estate portfolio, and it comes in the form of an interactive, searchable map.
Controller Ron Galperin—a former real-estate attorney—published PropertyPanel.LA along with a memo urging city leaders to realize the transformative potential of its nearly 9,000 parcels.
"The real-estate assets of the city are vast, and they could be delivering a tremendous amount of value to the residents, the businesses, and the taxpayers of LA," he told The Planning Report. "It’s long overdue that that happens."
In fact, the memo suggests the creation of a new position—Chief Asset Manager—with the authority to undertake construction, sales, leases, development, joint ventures, and "all the aspects of real-estate management."
"It should be someone with a good amount of private-sector experience, because the mindset it requires is not just about doing RFPs and RFQs," Galperin says. "It’s about doing deals."
The report notes that previous accounts of municipal assets were "incomplete, inadequate, outdated, and in some cases incorrect." Galperin tells The Planning Report that putting the new data into an easily accessible map "helps to turn everybody into partners in holding the city accountable."
After all, he says, publicly owned property should be used in the service of the public—as parkland, as housing for the homeless, or indirectly, as a source of municipal revenue.
Fulfilling that ideal will require some long-term planning, and it's time to get started, Galperin says:
I don’t believe in selling, leasing, or joint-venturing property just to close a budget gap in a particular year. We have to meet strict standards about the value that the deal will deliver over the long term. Plus, we want to get input from a lot of different stakeholders about the best thing to do with particular properties.
But here’s the thing: The city owns so many properties that even if we did only a somewhat better job with just some of them, we’d be well ahead of where we are now.
FULL STORY: LA Controller Galperin Makes Transparent LA City’s "Underutilized" Properties

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie